The three groups were considered the most dangerous in the state, the Tagesspiegel newspaper reported on Thursday. They were all regarded as violent, with the Aachen group considered nasty enough to border on terrorism.

Two members of this last group were stopped on their way to Berlin two years ago - and found with home-made bombs containing pieces of glass which they allegedly planned to throw at left-wingers and police.

They also strongly identified with the neo-Nazi terrorist group that called itself the National Socialist Underground, which is thought to have been responsible for nine racially motivated murders as well as the killing of a policewoman.

“With this we are tearing a big hole in the network of neo-Nazis,” said Jäger.

Around 100 addresses were searched in Dortmund, Hamm and in the Unna area, as well as nearly 50 flats in Aachen, Düren and Heinsberg.

The groups’ funds were confiscated and wearing the badges or symbols of the groups is illegal from now on.

Far-right violence has long been pigeon-holed as an eastern German problem, but this move in the heart of western Germany will reopen questions about how widespread Nazism is across the country.

Your comments about this article

It is a damned shame that so many young people ­ both on the extreme right- and left-wing perimeters of political activities ­ look to violence as chance for the future.

There can however be little doubt, that the egoism, mendacity and financial self service amongst the so-called democratic political parties and their leaders, do a lot to encourage the lack of trust in German and European policies.

The problem is the German vassal State's policy of thought policing and forbiding people from speaking freely, reading freely, writing freely and thus refusing to engage in intellectual debate.

When a State uses force to supress ideas, people naturally no other alternative but to engage in underground activities.

The current German Government, as well as other European Nation's thought police laws are so intelectually and morally bankrupt it is laughable as we see their press conferences where they decry the evil of thoughts, songs, ideas, and intellectual freedom.

The fact is, when they refuse to debate, they have lost. Don't be fooled, there are far more NPD types that are NOT hooligans. The time will come.

Police in Bremen said that the risk of a terrorist attack had been reduced in the city after they arrested two suspected arms dealers. The city remains under high alert, with special protection for the Jewish community.
READ

An estimated 375 people turned out for the Germany-based PEGIDA movement's first demonstration in Britain on Saturday, but were outnumbered by a 2,000-strong crowd of counter-protesters, police said.
READ

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko declared the killing of three government troops by pro Moscow rebels a "serious breach of the ceasefire", during a telephone call Friday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, her office said.
READ

Germany's highest civil court ruled in favour of a man who swapped the carpet in his new apartment for parquet flooring, incurring the wrath of the retired couple who lived below him over his loud footsteps.
READ

Teachers all over the country are expected to stike starting Monday, German education trade union GEW said, after negotiations with the wage commission of the federal states (TdL) failed to achieve results.
READ

Andre Shepherd at the European Court of Justice in June 2014. Photo: DPA

American soldier Andre Shepherd, who applied for asylum in Germany as a conscientious objector against the war in Iraq after going AWOL from his unit, saw a judgement by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) go against him on Thursday.
READ